Low-Impact Self-Built Living in a Communal Woodland (Video)

From touring an illegal roundhouse to checking out some "plush and fragrant" composting toilets, we've seen our fair share of low tech, low impact living here on TreeHugger. This latest video is a great example of how simple, communal living can be achieved on a shoestring budget. And the compost toilet you're about to see might have one of the best views of any crapper I have had the opportunity to visit. Based in Dartmoor National Park in South West England, the Steward Community Woodland was conceived as an experimental living project that aims to show that conservation woodland management, food production, and low impact living are not mutually exclusive—but rather best pursued as an integrated whole.

Consisting of 10-11 adults, and nine children, the community grows its own food, produces its own power, lives off water from a spring in the woods, and has built its own houses and other buildings. There is, of course, the obligatory compost loo that goes with permaculture projects like this—and the "poo temple" as it is affectionately known is one of the finest examples I have seen.

There's no doubt that this kind of living is not for everyone. And many will be turned off by the crunchier end of hippy living, but with a per-person carbon footprint that is 34% of the average UK citizen, you'd be hard pushed to find a greener lifestyle in your plushest of luxury LEED-certified eco-condos.